What a shame - a very talented actor and, by all accounts, a very nice guy off-camera, too. Three years older than me, almost to the day.
Here’s CNN.com’s story: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/showbiz/james-gandolfini-obituary/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Well, I dunno… the Sun exploding might’ve been worse.
Well, hell. As if James Gandolfini passing isn’t bad enough, now I’ll be forced to reconsider Ron’s intelligence as well.
That is exactly what I am considering doing this weekend. Except over here, we’ll have to buy it.
It will be money well spent. The Sopranos deserves all the praise it gets, as does James Gandolfini.
Loved him in The Man who Wasn’t There. I only have seen two Sopranos episodes – great stuff.
I’ve heard nothing but good things about the show … except from one fellow American over here who said he watched one episode and didn’t care for it. I have no idea which episode but think it was somewhere into the series and not the first one. I feel he did not give it a proper chance.
Okay, I am vowing to seek out The Sopranos this weekend.
Damn. Fine actor. Great series, one of the few worth subscribing to HBO for.
RIP, Tony.
Did he at least take out that goddamn balrog with him?
What a sad loss, he had a young wife and child, he was still young enough to enjoy life, travel and do very good work. Shit.
The Sopranos was easily the best tv series I’ve watched. I viewed all 90-something episodes, 2 per day, over 6 weeks in the summer of 2011 and haven’t been able/wanted to get into any series since then. Nothing compares.
Damn. I hadn’t heard that. That bums me out even more. I loved the Mitch Rapp books.
I’ve not seen a single Sopranos episode. It’s time to fix that. Season 1 now sits atop my Netflix queue.
mmm
ETA: Is it good from the get-go, or does it take time to get its sea legs?
Arrivederci, Tony.
(Hope I spelled that right.)
I am seeing Bruce Springsteen tonight. I imagine Steve Van Zandt is going to be pretty cut up and may well make some sort of reference.
Too young. Too much stuff still to do in his life. Leaving behind a small child. Very sad. At least we have a complete classic series showing him at his pinnacle, as well as his other work in film and TV. Small comfort though.
Very depressing news. He was a great actor and reportedly a nice person, too.
RIP James Gandolfini.
Unlike a lot of other quality shows, The Sopranos grabs you from the first episode.
The Sopranos was an excellent series that did have some ups and downs in quality, but Gandolfini’s acting was always outstanding. Edie Falco’s, too. Even Tony’s breathing was distinctive and communicated a great deal about the character. If that was the only thing he’d done it would still be a legendary performance.
He sleeps with the…truffles?
Good actor, great series.
But I always found the idea of him going to a psychiatrist pretty unrealistic-that is something no Mafia kingpin would do.
Did anyone else hear the rumor that the crowd waited 11 seconds before calling the ambulance?
From the New York Times story about his death:
This makes me think of the scene where Tony was pointing out a building (cathedral?) to AJ and telling him about how his grandfather had built it.
I’m just so sad to hear about this. I’m rarely affected much by celebrity deaths, but watching the Sopranos was a family ritual and we would often comment about what Tony would say or do in a certain situation.
I’m not conflating the actor and the character, but it takes very good acting to make a person so real that you feel you know them. To put viewer in that complicated position of “he’s an animal, but I like him dammit”. Acting genius, and he seems to have been a decent person too.